The Venezuelan president, who was last seen in public June 9 and last heard from on June 12, on a phone call with Venezuelan state television, was said to have been treated for a pelvic abscess in Cuba.

During the call Chávez said that medical tests showed no sign of any "malignant" illness.

“It is important that the new IMF managing director be selected in an open and transparent process with the candidate chosen on the basis of merit and not nationality,” Australia and Canada said in joint statement e-mailed today by Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan’s spokesman, Fergus Maguire. A European has held the top IMF job since it was created at the end of World War II, while an American has always headed the World Bank.

The statement said Carstens’ experience as a deputy managing director of the IMF, along with his background as financ…